Magic Gems (Based on the belt of Deltora)

[SnowleopardVK]

The Deltora Quest series might be a bit young, so I'm not sure how many people will know of it, but it's given me plenty of good ideas for traps and puzzles over the last month since I've discovered it.

The first 8 books of the series focus on a magic belt, and recovering the seven gems that are meant to adorn it. Each of those gems has a few unique powers, and I thought they might make a pretty neat set of magic items. I'm looking for some ideas, and to make sure each one is relatively equal as far as usefulness goes to the other six. The gems and their powers according to the books are:

The Diamond, symbol of strength: It has the power to give physical strength to the user. Misfortune comes upon those who gain it without honour.

The Emerald, symbol of honour: This gem dulls in the presence of evil, and when a vow is broken. It is an antidote to poison.

The Lapis Lazuli, symbol of the heavans: This stone is a powerful talisman that protects the wearer from evil. (It also seems to be "lucky" though this is never outright confirmed as far as I can remember.

The Topaz, symbol of faithfulness: This stone allows the holder contact with the spirit world, and strengthens and clears the mind.

The Opal, symbol of hope: This stone has the power to give people glimpses into the future, and to aid those with weak sight.

The Ruby symbol of joy: grows pale in the presence of evil, or when misfortune threatens its wearer. It wards off evil spirits, and is an antidote to snake venom.

The Amethyst, symbol of truth: This stone changes color in the presence of illness, pales near poisoned food or drink, and guides the wearer towards sincerity, security, and peace of mind.

My initial thoughts on how they would look as magic items are as follows:

Diamond: Grants +1 to the holder's damage rolls. Anyone who tries to steal the diamond becomes afflicted with an unluck curse (and receives no save to negate this effect).

Emerald: Holds 1 charge of Neutralize Poison that replenishes on its own every 24 hours. It also constantly detects chaos around it and will temporarily darken if a source of chaos comes within 30 feet of the emerald. The holder must be looking at it to realize that chaos has been detected however.

Lapis Lazuli: Holds 1 charge of Protection from Evil that replenishes on its own every 24 hours. It also grants the holder a +2 bonus to Reflex saves.

Topaz: Holds 1 charge of Speak with Dead that replenishes on its own every 24 hours. It also grants the holder a +2 bonus to Will saves.

Opal: Holds 1 charge of Precognition that replenishes on its own every 24 hours. The holder is also immune to the blinded condition.

Ruby: Grants the holder a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves. It also constantly detects evil around it and will temporarily pale if a source of evil comes within 30 feet of the ruby. The holder must be looking at it to realize that evil has been detected however.

Amethyst: Holds 1 charge of Discern Lies that replenishes on its own every 24 hours. It also constantly detects poison around it and will darken if poison comes within 30 feet of the amethyst. The holder must be looking at it to realize that poison has been detected however.

 

[Keenberg]

Diamond: I always liked the way 4e handled the iconic Gauntlets of Ogre strength, and they came to mind when you described the diamond. So this stone is based off those.
Property: Receive a +2 bonus to all strength based skill checks. This excludes strength based attacks
Property: If the gem is stolen from the weilder, the creature stealing the jem is cursed, and automatically fails all natural d20 rolls of 1, 2, or 3. The creature receives no save to end this effect.
Daily Power
Trigger: You hit with a melee attack.
Effect: Add +1 to your damage roll. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level, and +3 at 21st level.

Emerald:
Property: if a chaotic or evil creature is within 5 squares of you, you can detect that the creature is chaotic, evil, or both.
Daily power
Burst 1, targets wielder or one ally in burst
Effect: The target saves against any poison effects that a save can end.

Lapis Lazuli
Property: instead of automatically succeeding on a natural roll of 20, you automatically succeed on any natural roll of 19 or 20.
Or...
Daily power
Immediate interior
Trigger: you make a d20 roll you dislike.
Effect: Re-roll the attack roll or skill check roll, using either result.
And...
Property: you receive a +1 enhancement bonus to all defenses against attacks made by evil creatures.

Topaz
Property: +2 to will saves
Daily power
The user may conduct the Speak with Dead ritual without paying the component cost.

Opal: Not sure how powerful you want to make this one but I'm thinking the user can conduct Hand of fate/ consult oracle/ consult mystic sages as a daily power, w/o the component cost.
Property: Weilder is immune to the blind condition.

Ruby: Grants the holder a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves. It also constantly detects evil as the emerald does.

Amethyst: As a daily power, the weildet can cast the Discern Lies ritual w/o paying the component cost. It also constantly detects poison around it and will darken if poison comes within 6 squares of the amethyst.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Nice, you've made it look quite a bit more professional than how I had it.

Opal: Not sure how powerful you want to make this one...

Yeah. The opal simply by the power it's described as having, I would consider the most powerful. The book handled it by not making the future visions controlled; they came in random bursts at inopportune times and tended to show disturbing visions of the future that rarely helped the protagonists. It got to the point where the hero was often careful to avoid direct physical contact with the opal so that he wouldn't accidentally activate its power by touching it, and I recall one time when he did try (in desperation, hoping it might help him) to get a future vision and the gem refused to comply, giving no visions for once.

Potentially it was the most powerful of the gems I think, but it had the biggest drawbacks and was perhaps the least frequently used of the seven. The most used was the ruby, specifically its detect evil powers. It got tons of use. It helps that the ruby was the second gem obtained, recovered much earlier than the emerald and thus it had more opportunities to be used. The opal was third, so it's not like there was a lack of opportunities for it though.